ProAm Drifters Compete for their FD PRO2 Licenses at Rd. 2 of The Drift League

The Drift League (TDL) Presented by MotoIQ is California’s newest Formula Drift PRO2 Licensing ProAm competitive drift series. If you want to find out more about how you can be part of The Drift League or to watch the next round just make the jump over to the TDL website.

Mac Cruz letting loose during morning practice.

Round 2 of TDL took place on July 20, 2018 at Irwindale Speedway. Although it was quite a bit hotter this time around, it was very apparent our drivers were much more comfortable and familiar with the grueling demands of drifting competition on the Irwindale Speedway oval.

The track layout was much more demanding this time around as well. At Round 1, in order to ease drivers into the high-speed, infamous “big bank” at Irwindale, we had the drivers utilize less than half of it. This time around, we pushed the initiation point back quite a bit, forcing the drivers to enter at a higher speed. The drivers were clearly pushing themselves much more this round, as the infamous wall even claimed a few cars. Luckily no one was hurt!

Qualifying was exciting to watch! The drivers put on some solid runs and many close scores. Be sure to make the jump over to page 5 for our image gallery of all the pre-competition activities!

Rome Charpentier was our first place qualifier with a solid 84 point run. The competition was close! Less than 10 points separated our top 6 qualifiers. Here’s a look at the drivers that would move on to the Top 16 competition.

Position

Driver #

Score

Driver

1

17

84

Charpentier

2

27

82

Stuke

3

116

80

Cisneros

4

8

77

Diaz

5

24

75

Cabrera

6

753

75

Kilada

7

77

73

Mason

8

309

71

Priyono

9

88

70

Cruz

10

909

69

Jones

11

10

67

Sanchez

12

14

65

Grimm

13

414

64

Boline

14

12

60

Sorensen

15

31

59

Cano Estrella

16

72

39

Jansen

Before jumping into the details of the Top 16 Competition, lets take a look at the bracket. Those of you who follow our series and drivers know we were in for some pretty exciting battles!

Rome Charpentier vs. Joseph Jansen in Top 16.

First up was first place qualifier Rome Charpentier in his green E36 versus 16th place qualifier Joseph Jansen in his Nissan 370z. Charpentier started with a fast lead run, leaving Jansen about 3-4 car lengths behind. Jansen kept it together, but didn’t maintain good proximity. On Jansen’s lead run, Charpentier gave him some space, however Jansen initiated pretty late and washed out at the end of the bank, giving Charpentier the win.

Mac Cruz putting up a smoke screen while following Daryl Priyono in Top 16.